I'm about to fit my hids am I right in thinking that if I don't code the car it will bring up a bulb out warning light on the dash only nothing else??

As I have someone to code them but when he's free but for now was thinking about getting them in not bothered about the dash light till he codes them??

My car is a 2007 octavia replies would be appreciated I know it's a minefield with hid's so pls helpful posts only

it all depends whether they are canbus or non canbus units mine have got canbus decoders built in, and work perfectly had em for twelve mths now no problems

Do the hids work better if the car has the standard projecter lights?

No I've been advised to get non can bus ones and have them coded but I want to know if I can fit them and have them coded at a later date???

Don't think they will work if there not coded aswell.

No they won't work until coded if non canbus. Why did they advise non canbus and to code i'm puzzled ? :wonder:

No they won't work until coded if non canbus. Why did they advise non canbus and to code i'm puzzled ? :wonder:

I think it has previously been noted for the canbus ones to damage controllers (Probably cheapo units that did this, should be OK with reputable suppliers).

If the canbus detects a failed bulb I believe it can cut power to the light.

Do the hids work better if the car has the standard projecter lights?

Yes. Not a problem for MKII Octavias as they all had projectors as standard.

My non-CANBus ones worked ok, but threw up a warning on the dashboard. 5 minutes later and VCDS, all was good again.

Just fitted them and they flicker and turn off so I think I'm going to have to remove them.

Can they be programmed via vcds lite??

Apologies for the hijack, but I also have a question regarding HIDS.

My car came with halogen lights. I purchased a set of Octavia headlights with lenses, and fitted a xenon kit. So when the yearly MOT comes, I swap my headlight units, get them adjusted, MOTed, refit the xenon units, adjust them, and all is well for another year.

When I installed the xenons, I got erratic startup behavior. I ticked "xenon lights installed" in VCDS, and they worked perfectely. Something to do with the car now providing more power. When I refit the halogen units for the yearly MOT, do I need to untick the "Xenon lights installed" option"? Can I harm the halogens by driving around for a couple of days with the extra power provided at startup?

I spent ages neatly fittin them and sealing the unit back up now I have to remove them aaarrrggghh !!

I have a '59 octavia, to which I tried some HIDs, non CANBUS. Unfortunately the ballasts and igniters were so big I couldn't get them into the back of the H/L unit. I did try them however, with the kit taped in place and every thing worked fine with no coding, just too big. So back they went.

Replaced them with some cheaper non CANBUS ones from Londoncolour because they fit right inside the H/L unit. They were coded to the car and work very well, transforming my night time driving. They have carried on working with only a slight hitch - if I switch off the car with the autolights on, occasionally it throws a n/s bulb warning. This goes after a while if running with the lights on. I suspect it may be only partially HID related.

Not had to remove them for MOT purposes. That's three inspections so far. For my usage, even if I was forced to do a change for the MOT, I would. As most folks find, once tried you don't want to go back.

Mine worked fine when the car is switched off but once started they start flickering which I assume either needs coding or needs capacitors from eBay.

Heared bad things about capacitors so will just wait till I can get them coded.....

Get them coded mate. Mine had a slight flicker when they weren't coded and using my main beam turned them off. Borrowed vcds and they now work a treat

Mine are from LondonColour. The ballast and starter fit into the rear of the light housing. (The bit you take off to get to the blubs) I used double-side pads to keep them in place.

You need to have the coding done for non-CANBus ones for them to work properly. From what I understand, if you have CANBus ones there is a resistor in there to fool CANBus into thinking all is good (HIDs have different resistance to halogens). If the HID burner fails, you won't get a warning on the dash as the resistor will still be fooling the CANBus. I have resistors on the sidelights and no warning came up when one of the LEDs had failed.

I would strongly suggest getting non-CANBus ones and having them coded. When you get a failure, you'll get a warning too